ISLAMABAD, Jan 21: The Senate standing committee on information technology on Saturday stressed the need for efforts to make the Telephone Industries of Pakistan (TIP) a profit-oriented organization, capable of meeting the challenges of the 21st century.

The committee, which met here with Senator Tahir Iqbal in the chair, expressed its displeasure over the non-renewal of a contract by the TIP with Ufone regarding renting of its building for use by the cellular phone company.

The committee directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) to get the issue settled.

The meeting regretted that TIP highups could not provide relevant information about a plot owned by TIP in Sector

F-5, Islamabad, despite being directed by the committee in this regard.

It directed TIP’s managing director to ensure the provision of the information to the committee within a week.

A TIP official briefed the committee about the training facilities at the TIP Training Institute, Haripur. The committee was informed that all expenses of trainees were being borne by the company and that the trainees were also given stipends.

The institute, where 202 students were getting training, was founded in collaboration with a German cellular phone company.

The committee stressed the need for market-oriented training courses at the institute.

The meeting was informed that two housing societies had been launched for the employees of TIP on 1,025 kanals and that the development cost was paid by the allotees.